Ken Jennings, with his "smarmy core," will never properly fill Alex Trebek's Jeopardy! shoes
"Trebek’s long reign as king of the quiz show in which a correct answer must be delivered in the form of a question is marked by a dearth of scandal or offense," says Andrea Peyser. "The Canadian transplant was sassy without being raunchy. Seemingly erudite without being a snob." That's in contrast to interim host Ken Jennings, she says. "Jennings’ weird sense of humor, if you can call it that, reveals more about the guy’s smarmy core than it does about the vast trove of trivia to which he’s devoted his days," she says, adding that his "reign as the show’s winningest contestant is clouded by a level of flippant cruelty previously unseen on a smart program that, for decades, has delivered a necessary and calming distraction during times of war, recession, social unrest and pandemic."